Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Fatehpur Sikri - staying close to Salim Chisti

The five feet three, had three wives and three hundred concubines and a
bed large enough to have all three wives spread themselves in a foursome
with their husband.

I am sure Akbar is not turning in his grave for I do not hear the
slightest rustle of disbelief. But many women are, for I hear a loud
rave and rant!

Son of the invader who began the Mughal Empire in India, Babur,
Jalauddin Mohammad Akhbar was born on October 15, 1542. He married three
women, a Hindu from Rajasthan, Jodha bai, a Muslim and a Christian from
Goa. Unfortunately, none of the wives were able to produce an heir for
him, until he heard of the Sufi saint, who was sitting on a hill in a
village called Sikri, about 40 kms from Agra. Akbar had already
travelled to Ajmer to pray at the tomb of Ajmer Sheriff, but he walked
on foot to pay homage to Salim Chisti and beg him for an heir. And he
was blessed with a boy, from his Hindu wife, Jodha bai, on 30 August,
1569. They called him, Mohammad Salim. Also Jahangir.

Akbar decided that he would not only build a palace with a mosque for
Salim Chisti, but go and stay close to him. Fatehpur Sikri was born at
the same it and the impressive structure which is aworld heritahe
monument was build over 12 years with 32,000 men working there. But
after Salim Chisti left his body the dire water shortage in the [place
made Akbar move after living there for 16 years, along with his family
and son,

Fatehpur Sikri is a living example of an alishaan life of wine, women
and song . The administration of his kingdom, was done by remote
control, from the top of a minor hillock. Although Akbar continued to
rule his domain from there, what strikes the viewer most is the place he
gave to all three women in him life. Equally honoured in all respect,
each had their own living quarter, separate from the other. Jodha bai’s
palace was large; she had her winter palace and her summer palace which
faced each other across a very large quadrangle. She shared a close
proximity in her living quarters with his Christian wife, from Goa. Hers
was a smaller version of a palace, with separate rooms. But the one,
that is most engaging though, is the sheesh mahal – the official
residence of his Muslim wife. Set at the farthest end of the main
monument across the central water lake, where Tansen sang his songs in
the evening, sheesh mahal is intricately carved with art at every wall,
pillar, window. A small room, most elegantly designed, for perhaps a
lady with much artistic taste, or someone Akbar honoured the most,
although Jodha bai may have been his priority in other ways.

The ladies, also had their own jewellery rooms, or tijoris, in which they kept their precious jewels and money.

Fatehpur Sikri had its own hospital, with its own Hakim ji. A horse and camel stable which would have done the horses proud!

Akbar had a message in his marriages –
he did want so much to bring together all religions together. I am told
he even proposed a new religious sect called “Din-e-lahi” which
included the best tenets of all religions existing those times. Why I
have chosen to say, that if only men were like Akbar, is, while men may
still like many women, behind the purdah, most would not give all
their women the same honour or status in their lives through marriage
or otherwise. Protesting feminists must concede this point.

Perhaps a ruler with a gentle heart and an open mind to all religions,
Akbar must be remembered not for the second Mughal to rule over his
domain in India, but a man who put to practice, what he believed in, all
roads lead to One!

Akbar died in 1606 on the night of 25th – 26th October, in Agra Fort where he had moved from Fatehpur Sikri and was buried in Sikandara a little away from Agra Fort.